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Model S free supercharging.

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On a related topic it would be interesting if Tesla were to offer a SuperCharging package. You pay so much up front when you buy the car and not only do you lock in pricing based on current market but get a slight discount on top. If electricity goes up you come out far ahead. Tesla of course gets all those thousands up front.

When I still had my Audi A7 they offered this. Buy so many years of service up front for a discount and if service prices go up you’re locked in.
 
Yes.

I’m equating this pre payment for a discount and hedge against potential future price increases of one automotive consumable against another.
There is a key distinction. In the case of a pre-paid maintenance plan, the maintenance schedule is well known, so the manufacturer / seller can easily assess what their full cost to provide the plan will be, and factoring in the time value of money, determine what an appropriate discount should be for the plan which still is attractive for them to offer.

With a prepaid energy plan, there is no way for Tesla to reasonably estimate what the anticipated total amount of miles you will charge using their network, and in turn, the total consumption of energy will be from their superchargers. So there is no way for them to determine their future expense exposure and be able to price the plan accordingly.

The other key distinction is in the case of the pre-paid maintenance plan, there is nothing that forces any one consumer to actually do the maintenance, or to use the manufacturer for the maintenance. What the pre-paid plan is to lock you in as a customer to actually purchase the service. In that way is actually locks in the future service revenue for them which they might not otherwise receive.

In the case of an energy plan, everyone must purchase energy to use the vehicle. So that future sales stream for the supplier is much more guaranteed, and there is little incentive for them to absorb the future price risk versus just sell to you as you go.

So an apples and oranges comparision.
 
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I ran into a guy at a rest area here in CA where we were both trying to free charge and while we were talking got on this subject and this guy LOST HIS MIND over the issue. Apparently he looked at the VIN and delivery date for a car and ASSUMED that he would get FUSC if he bought it. Unfortunately for him, as we know, if the ownership ever goes back in Tesla's hands they are free to add or remove features as long as they clearly state what it is that they are *now* selling. He didn't buy it from Tesla and was surprised when he went to charge that he had to pay for it.

Don't go down this guys road, he is now trying to sue them, there is no way this ends well for him. He hasn't a leg to stand on, and talking about it he sounds like he needs a rubber room, doesn't keep his facts straight, doesn't use the correct terms. I get the agitation, and I would avoid buying something like this for that reason.

It's kinda crazy that there are so few personal Tesla car sales where you could see when they bought the car to know they have FUSC and it will transfer. Every car I see for sale is thru a dealer, they can't be trusted as they have no idea
 
There is a key distinction. In the case of a pre-paid maintenance plan, the maintenance schedule is well known, so the manufacturer / seller can easily assess what their full cost to provide the plan will be, and factoring in the time value of money, determine what an appropriate discount should be for the plan which still is attractive for them to offer.

With a prepaid energy plan, there is no way for Tesla to reasonably estimate what the anticipated total amount of miles you will charge using their network, and in turn, the total consumption of energy will be from their superchargers. So there is no way for them to determine their future expense exposure and be able to price the plan accordingly.

The other key distinction is in the case of the pre-paid maintenance plan, there is nothing that forces any one consumer to actually do the maintenance, or to use the manufacturer for the maintenance. What the pre-paid plan is to lock you in as a customer to actually purchase the service. In that way is actually locks in the future service revenue for them which they might not otherwise receive.

In the case of an energy plan, everyone must purchase energy to use the vehicle. So that future sales stream for the supplier is much more guaranteed, and there is little incentive for them to absorb the future price risk versus just sell to you as you go.

So an apples and oranges comparision.

Tesla has plenty of data to know how much their cars use and how they charge. More than enough information to work things up and average it across the fleet. If they’re at all unsure they can do a limited run or set the price high enough to cover most/all cases and work from there.
 
Tesla has plenty of data to know how much their cars use and how they charge. More than enough information to work things up and average it across the fleet. If they’re at all unsure they can do a limited run or set the price high enough to cover most/all cases and work from there.
Energy pricing is way too volatile for any company to voluntarily take on such a risk at high production volume. I don’t see any upside for them.
 
Energy pricing is way too volatile for any company to voluntarily take on such a risk at high production volume. I don’t see any upside for them.

Pricing yes.

The upside is if they can price it better than what people pay at home they can move some people over to SC use and get more revenue there.

There are many ways to do it. Limit the amount of time. Only offer limit kWh. Tesla gets their money upfront and people take their time to use.

Were there a will.
 
The upside is if they can price it better than what people pay at home they can move some people over to SC use and get more revenue there.
It’s essentially impossible to make supercharging both less expensive than charging at home and profitable to Tesla.

The costs associated with delivering energy at commercial scale, at ~megawatt power levels, are fundamentally different than residential service and will always be more expensive.

Furthermore, creating incentives to shift charging to superchargers instead of home would seem to be counterintuitive at all levels.

Tesla’s cash position is just fine - they don’t need a bunch of money up front like they did 7-8 years ago.
 
I don't really see the big deal about the free supercharging unless you live in an environment where you cannot install a home charger. In this case I understand how crucial it can be for someone. Or if your one of these people who make crazy road trips year after year I guess it would be beneficial. I was worrying about supercharging when I bought my car but realize now I home charge 98% of the time.
 
I don't know about "crazy" road trips.... But I just finished about 4k miles and about to go from Florida to Cali to Connecticut to Florida, that should be around 8k by the time that trip is done. Starting with the purchase of my S last year in May and haven't owned it a year yet, I've already driven more than 60k miles - 50 of which was on that S in 9 months. Bought the X 6 weeks ago and that's where the last 4k miles were put. I travel for work, so the free supercharging is definitely important for me.
 
So from what I’ve read certain older Tesla models came with lifetime transferable free supercharging, mostly the 2015 models. So just to clarify if I bought one from non Tesla dealer that hadn’t been sold back to Tesla ever it would still have this feature?
Yes. It would still have that feature. I bought my 70D from a Lincoln dealership with the FUSC intact.